All posts in travel

look.

pennslavania’s a fucking weird place.

I suppose that’s why I like it so much…

but seriously:

• the Amish
• the Philly Experiment*
• the Mutter Museum
• Centralia
• Eagle’s/Philles fans
• et al

there’s just an odd feel about the place – not a bad feel, nor a good feel, just an odd feel.

and I do love it.

so when my pals down in the 215 mentioned we were going to see some ‘quirk’, I was beyond excited.

day 01

this wasn’t as much odd as it was cool – but for the sake of acting like the dozen of people who read this will care, we’ll bunch ‘em all together.

first stop was the tower.

built in 1929.

in the middle of the woods.

we’ve all been up in towers, but for this one to have been built the same year Wall Street crashed [1st one], in the middle of nowhere with suberb views of the winding river and only a few bucks to climb up into, it’s well worth a stop off on a road trip through the state.

at this point I’m just trying to fill in this white space so the photo looks right.

I’m not a travel writer or this part would be interesting.

speaking of the Delaware, next up was the spot where Washington crossed. nothing to see, but something to bore children with in later years.

last stop was the town of New Hope. think Nimbin-meets-Eureka Springs. cute town, funky shops and a dangerous unguarded train depot. across the water to Jersey is the even cuter town of Lambertville. old churches, dusty book stores [one of which initiated my new obsession with Haitian vodun], but sadly, no bars [?].

combine the two and you have a good 5-6 hours. but no more.

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day 02 took me away from my favorite place in all of the U.S. and introduced me to something new that rivaled that…

more tomorrow.

[*well worth a watch]

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p.s. for the record, I do not like the layout of this post. it does not speak to me of design brilliance. I also spent about an hour on it yesterday. but I do not like it. I’m also hungover. this will be posted on a Sunday so hopefully you don’t mind. I’m sorry.

I have a list in my head of places I want to go. I also have a list in my head of lesser-known places that I’ve been, and I want to go back to:

Cesky Krumlov [Czech Republic]

Wicklow [Ireland]

Macon [Georgia]

Hama [Syria]

… and let’s go ahead and add Astoria, Oregon to that list. yes, yes, those that have gone usually go to pay homage to The Goonies, which should be something everyone does. and, it has to be said, it’s every bit as magic as you think it will be. the house is easy to find, the owner is a sweetheart [a Goonie, herself] and should you be lucky enough to pass anyone else walking down the long driveway when you’re walking up, you’ll exchange a smile reserved for those geeky enough to be there.

but, Goonies aside, the town itself is one of the most fascinating and haunted places I’ve ever been. even just coming within one block of the old Astor hotel [above] you can tell this. the Liberty Theater. any of the given streets. perhaps it was because I walked around on a day where it was dark and drizzly, but the streets reminded me of something out of Detroit – even though I’ve never been.

the architecture was a despondent hybrid of Colonial-meets-coastal. the people hard from the weather, the fishing. two funeral homes sit across caddy-corner from each other, either in competition, or location preference.

it’s a place hard to write, and only those who have been could compare notes. but I could have stayed for days, taking the same photos over-and-over. heading out to Cannon Beach. sit in the same hotel room. drinking in less-than-desirable spots.

and I need to go back.

Tim and Robin would fall ill to something we had eaten the night before [me, fine - a Teflon-coated stomach thanks to years in Asia] and so we’d head back early, timing our drive perfectly for the white-knuckle trip back, up and around Mt. Hood, in a blizzard.

we’d save the rest of the tour for another day, another time.

but trust that this town, and this area of the world, needs to, and will be, seen again.

[more photos here. apologies for the spots. it was raining. a lot.]

look, I got nothin’ but love for Portland, OR. to me, if you have to live in a city in this area, this is the one to pick. San Francisco is great, but it’s still California. and Seattle is fun, but grim. I first came to Portland many years ago and fell in love with how quiet the downtown was and it’s the same today. people, while not as health conscious as they are in Bend, still ride their bikes to work, and can’t be seen anywhere in the city on the weekend. and you got Powell’s.

but Tim, on the way there, told me to pay attention to something and I did. and, after a few days there [even in the nicest of hotels], I’m prone to agree with him.

great town; but it’s dark.

and no one knows why.

I’d mention this to a few more people and they’d point out the homeless population [many would refer to this as the 'meth' population - homelessness being simply subsequent], and, the shocking title of ‘America’s Most Unhappy City’.

don’t know if I agree with that, but it does have a cloud over it.

we, as a group, didn’t do a whole lot besides hit the pubs, not hit Voodoo Donuts and stalk Dominique Wilkins, who was in town with his previous team. so, to make up for it, I’ll throw in a few photos.

it is a fun town to shoot.

… more photos up here.

next up, Astoria.